In order to harvest cotton, cotton harvesters commonly include a plurality of row units. Each row unit typically includes a unit housing that rotatably supports a pair of upright drums having a plurality of spindle bars. The spindle bars rotatably support spindles with barbs for picking cotton from cotton boils. Spindles that are wrapped with cotton pass under rotating doffer disks of an upright doffer column, which unwind the cotton and push the cotton off of the spindles. The spindles pass under moistener pads of an upright moistener column, which clean remaining debris from the spindles using water and a liquid cleaner dispensed by the moistener pads.
The upright moistener column includes a column frame supporting a plurality of moistener pad support arms. The moistener pad support arms project toward the spindles and support the moistener pads. The upright moistener column is coupled to a moistener column door, which is pivotally mounted to the unit housing.
A rod having bent ends is mounted to the moistener column door. The bent ends facilitate twisting the rod when the moistener column door is dosed, which creates a non-adjustable pre-load between the rod and a set of bushings mounted to the unit housing. The pre-load holds the moistener column door in a closed position. When a cotton plug occurs, cotton is carried by the spindles to the moistener pads. The cotton creates pressure on the moistener column door, which overcomes the pre-load and causes the moistener column door to pivot to an open position, which enables the cotton to pass.